detailing Tessa Jean Smith's experiences as she undergoes an operation to lengthen her right leg

June 22, 2011

Homestretch!

We had a great couple of days with Madi! She had to head home last night, and we miss her already. Here are a few pictures from her visit:

On Sunday, the girls let me choose what we did since it was Father's Day (a big "thank you" to Madi's dad Kent for allowing us to borrow her on his big day!)

We went to see "Green Lantern" (which rated a solid "meh"), then went to the Inner Harbor to stroll around and get some sushi. Madi sprained her ankle badly last weekend doing gymnastics and was hobbling around in a boot all weekend:

Having some Edo Sushi near the USS Constellation clipper ship:

Rockin the 3D glasses!

The Inner Harbor was busy with paddle boats (that's the Aquarium across the water in the background.)

It's hard to get Tessa to smile for photos, so I end up shouting out embarrassing urological jargon at the moment of snappage. I think she looks really pretty in this one:

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On Monday morning, we had to get up early for her physical therapy appointment, then had to wait around the hospital for a few hours until her doctor's appointment with Dr H. Here they are sleeping in the cafeteria:

Waiting for the doctor whilst waching Spongebob:

Dr H was very happy with her progress in physical therapy wnd with the results on the Xrays.

This is a film of her right femur with the 2.2cm lengthening:

The white rod in the middle of the bone is the ISKD, which has now stopped making the bone longer and now is just keeping it straight with the cut ends in close proximity for further healing. We'll need to get another Xray next month back home, and it will likely show a gradual increase in the whiteness of the gap, indicating that the new bone is growing stonger with time. Once the new bone looks the same as the older bone, then she can get rid of the crutches!

A job well done, guys! I felt a great sense of relief after her operation two weeks ago, knowing that she'll never have to have another leg-lengthening surgery, but the sense of accomplishment is greater now, because she's finally reached the finish line, her legs are equal! There's still some work ahead, she needs to finish healing, get her leg to bend again, and (next summer) get the rod removed, but we've just about got this done, and after 10 years, that's huge!

To celebrate a great doctor visit, we went to the Towson mall to build some bears!

Madi with her fancy bear, Sally:

Tessa's Jedi Knight bear: Obear-Wan!

Yesterday, we couldn't make it to therapy because the freeway was closed due to a bad accident. Instead, we spent the afternoon in Fell's Point, which is a cool old cobblestoney part of town from the early days of Baltimore:

Gelato buddies:

The girls decided to go swimming before Madi had to head home. Here they are both gimping their way to the elevator on crutches:

Madi trying to get Tessa to smile with her mouth open:

Hot tubbin':

Madi's plane was delayed for a long time because of weather, so we stayed with her at the gate to keep her company:

We finally made it home around 10PM after an exhausting but fun day. Today we get another visitor: Tessa's friend Kathleen will come to help us finish up the last couple of days here before we come back home on Friday. Tonight: U2 concert at the football stadium with Florence + the Machine, one of Tessa's favorite bands as the opener!

Got to love that Maddi and they way she loves Tessa Jean. Thanks for all you did to cheer her up, Maddi. Tessa, have fun at the U2 concert. They are one of my favorites! Saw them a long time ago in Madison, WI. They gave an incredible show. You will have a great time.